


Living Together

by thatwriterlady



Series: 30 Day Writing Challenge 2016 [27]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: 30 Day Writing Challenge 2016, Bakery Shop Owner Dean Winchester, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Family, Fluff, Happy, Love, M/M, Moving In Together, Professor Castiel, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-10 23:43:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8944105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatwriterlady/pseuds/thatwriterlady
Summary: Dean and Cas have been together for a while now, but the true test is getting a place together.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Here, have some more fluff. Enjoy!

Day 27: Moving In Together 

Sam carried the last box up the 2 flights of stairs, huffing and puffing the entire way. The condo door still stood open and he passed through the living room, dining room and kitchen into the first bedroom on his right.

“Last box. I’m not helping you unpack though.” He grunted as he set the box on the dresser.

“It’s cool, thanks for helping us like this. We don’t want help unpacking anyway. We need to figure out where we’re going to put all of our stuff anyway.” Dean scratched the back of his neck as he looked around the room. So many boxes…

“Hey, it’s ok. This is your first time as an adult living with another person, but that’s generally what you do when you love someone. You and Cas, you’ll be fine.” Sam patted his brother’s shoulder reassuringly.

“Do you like this place? Cas picked it out but I really like it. Lots of room, plus there’s a second floor with 2 more rooms. We’re going to use one for an office and another for a library. He has a lot of books.” Dean looked around at all of the boxes. They’d both downsized before moving out of their apartments but it didn’t seem like all of their things would fit here.

“I didn’t get a chance to really look around but you said it’s a 4 bedroom, right? 2 bath? Living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, plus the balcony? That’s plenty of space. Are there closets too?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, in every room, and there’s a pantry. That’s pretty much what sold me on the place. It’s a walk in pantry. I need the space for storing stuff. And there’s a linen closet outside each bathroom and one in the upstairs hallway too.” Dean sighed and looked at the bed. It wasn’t set up yet.

“Whose bed is this?” Sam didn’t recognize it as the one his brother had.

“It’s Cas’ frame, my mattress. He had a complete matching set of furniture, and it’s pretty new. Our plan is to later buy a set together for in here, and then move this one across the hall. I like this set, but it was a bitch to get this bed apart. I’m not looking forward to putting it back together.” 

Cas came striding into the room, a huge smile on his face. “What do you think, Sam? Do you like it?”

“This place is amazing. You guys sticking to your plan?” Sam asked.

“Oh, absolutely. We are going to live here no less than 3 years, that way Dean has time to grow his business and I can work on getting my tenure. We put a substantial down payment on this place so our monthly payments are very low. That will help us to focus on each other and our career. From there Dean says he will decide whether or not to open a second bakery. Then we will look into a house. Someplace closer to our jobs, but also closer to our families. This place was just too perfect to pass up.” Cas looked over at Dean who nodded in agreement.

“It’s rare you find a condo with 2 floors, especially in this area. We actually have 2 balconies, and Cas wants to put a small garden out on one of them. My grill is going out on the other one along with a small table and chairs.”

“Sounds nice. Hey, if you’re serious about getting a house, I might buy this place from you guys when you’re ready to sell it. I’m leaving the firm in Cali and moving back here. I have a few interviews lined up, and I don’t want to stay in an apartment forever.” Sam liked what he had seen so far of this place. 

“Come, I’ll give you a full tour.” Cas led Sam back out of the bedroom while Dean remained behind to begin the hell that was unpacking.



“Dean? I thought you were going to donate your plates.” Cas was standing in the kitchen staring into a box of plates that were definitely not the ones he had brought. He recognized them as ones from Dean’s apartment.

“Uh, no. I got rid of the eating ones, but these aren’t going anywhere. They’re collector plates and expensive enough that I have them insured.” Dean swept into the room and grabbed the box.

“We need a china cabinet in that case. To display them properly without them getting damaged.” Cas followed him to the dining room.

“There are built ins already though.” Dean made a sweeping gesture towards the 2 cabinets that were built in to the corners on either side of the window.

“Yes, but I have my mother’s china.” Cas pointed at the boxes he had stacked in front of the cabinets. Dean frowned as he set his own box down.

“Really?” 

Cas stood in the doorway to the dining room looking small and worried. Dean didn’t want that. He crossed the room and pulled his boyfriend into his arms.

“Hey, we both knew we were coming into this with stuff we couldn’t part with. I expect that we’ll use your mom’s china at special occasions and holidays, right? Well, mine will not be touched. Whatever cabinet we get, it has to have a lock because this box of plates is worth roughly $5,000, and I will kill anyone that touches them.” 

“They’re really worth that much?” Cas looked up in shock.

“Damn right they are. My dad started collecting them in his teens and he passed them down to me. I got his record collection too.”

“Yes, I know about the records. I thought we might keep your favorites down here, in the living room, but out of the reach of small hands, should any of my nieces or nephews come over, and then we can keep the majority of them in the library. We’ll keep your record player down here and put mind in the library. Yours looks so much better than mine.” Cas wrapped his arms around Dean’s waist and leaned into him. 

“I like that idea. But yeah, we’re not leaving anything down low where sticky little fingers can touch. Not your angel statues either. We need to invest in a locking display case for those too.” Dean knew how valuable the statues were, and how much they meant to Cas. He wasn’t going to risk Gabe or Anna’s rugrats breaking them.

“Ok, so we should write down the furniture we still need to invest in.” Cas said as he stepped back. “I do have a display case, but it won’t work in the living room. It’s octagonal, so I think I’ll just stick it in my office. Plus it’s blonde wood, and we agreed we like darker woods.”

“I like the idea of a list. Right at the top of that list? Write down a dining room table and chairs.” Dean went back to the boxes that contained the precious china. 

“Alright. But we’re keeping your kitchen set. I love the vintage look.” Cas said as he started for the door.

“Damn right we are, and once we have a house, we can always put it out on a sunporch, or in the basement if we want something more modern.” Dean said. He watched his boyfriend leave the room and let out a sigh of relief. One crisis averted. 



Dean had shooed Cas out of the pantry so that he could unpack and organize everything to his own specifications. That left Cas unpacking the 2 bathrooms. 

Each man had a different style and as Cas stood holding a set of lemon yellow towels and a set of black towels with orange flames, he realized this wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d first thought. One bathroom was here, on this floor while the other was upstairs. It made sense to put the cheery yellow in the main bathroom since this was what guests would use most. It got him thinking. With towels still in hand, he made his way to the pantry where Dean was cataloging and alphabetizing his spices. His boyfriend might own a bakery but he had gone to culinary school and was a phenomenal chef. That was a big reason why this kitchen was so important when Cas had started looking for a condo they could both agree on. Dean took his cooking very seriously, and he needed the ample counter and cabinet space. This pantry was basically what had sold them both.

“Honey? I have an important question.” He asked as he stepped into the pantry. Dean set the jar of rosemary on its shelf and turned to see him standing there with the towels. He cocked an eyebrow as a smile formed on his lips.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Well, now follow me here, we have 2 bedrooms upstairs and 2 down here. We have 1 bathroom upstairs, and one down here. Both full. Wouldn’t it make sense to put the guest bedroom upstairs and my office down here? Then it’s only a few feet from my work space to our room, and we can put the nice, yellow towels with the matching shower curtain in the upstairs bathroom and make it into a guest bath. What do you think?” He didn’t even give Dean a chance to answer before he continued on.

“Or, we could move our room up there, and my office, and make our current room the library, and the other bedroom the guest room down here.”

Dean pressed a finger to his lips to silence him.

“Slow down, baby. You’re talking faster than I can picture what you’re saying. We chose the room we have now because it’s larger than the other 3. So I want to stay where we are. But…the idea of putting your office down here, I like that a lot. That way, if we do have guests staying over and we want to have sex, it’s highly unlikely that they will hear us.” He grinned, feeling pleased with himself when Cas burst into laughter.

“Oh, your logic is quite sound there. I hadn’t even thought of that. So, we’ll move my desk down here and put your old bed frame and my old mattress up in that room?”

“Sounds like a plan. Let me finish in here and we’ll do the switch, ok?” Dean looked at the towels in his boyfriend’s hands and smirked. “You just want a reason to put your black towels down here, don’t you?”

Cas was all smiles as he started backing out of the pantry. “What can I say? I like them.”

“Go on then, put them in the downstairs bathroom, you dork.” Dean chuckled as his boyfriend disappeared down the hall. He loved that man, tacky towels and all.



“You guys are settling in nicely?” Anna asked as they all sat down around the dining room table.

“Oh yeah, we got everything unpacked and in its new home, and we got a few new pieces of furniture, like this table.” Dean said as he set the turkey in the center of the table.

“It’s a lovely table. I like your taste. Is this mom’s china?” She looked over at her brother as he helped Dean set the table.

“It is. One of the selling points for this place was the built in cabinets, though Dean had to reinforce the shelves and the latches. They work fine now.” Cas replied.

“I see Cas’ towels won the war for the bathroom.” Gabe’s wife Kali said with a laugh. Dean grinned at his boyfriend who ducked his head and left to go back to the kitchen without comment.

“Yeah, we rearranged the rooms a bit, put the guest bedroom upstairs, and there’s a second bathroom up there too. Cas loves those towels, so if they make him happy, then I’m happy.” Dean said. 

“You’re the best thing to ever happen to our brother.” Anna spoke earnestly. “He wasn’t truly happy until he met you. I’m so glad you two fit as well as you do. At first, I wasn’t sure you would. I thought you were just too different, but at your core, you’re really not.”

Dean smiled as Cas returned with mashed potatoes and green beans.

“Cas is the best thing that ever happened to me too.”

Cas smiled brightly hearing that and leaned in to steal a quick kiss.

“Your brother just arrived with your parents, and Sam brought a date.”

Dean hurried to go greet his family. His mother had just taken her coat off and quickly hugged him.

“Oh, honey, the house is looking wonderful! Are you all unpacked now?” She asked.

“Yep, and everything we planned to paint has already been painted. I’ll take you on a tour after dinner. Come on, everyone is waiting. Dean gave his father and brother a quick hug before offering his hand to Sam’s date.

“And you must be Jessica. It’s nice to meet you. Sam speaks very highly of you.”

The blonde smiled sweetly at Sam before nodding at Dean.

“It’s nice to meet you as well.”

“Come on, we have the kids sitting at little kid size card tables so the adults have the big table. It’ll be a squeeze, but I’ll make everyone fit.” Dean said as he ushered everyone into the dining room. 

The table seated 8, but they’d been expecting 9 adults. Jess made 10, so Dean fetched another chair from the kitchen for her. After all of the food was laid out on the table and the additional sideboard (something Cas had said they would need, and he was right), they all sat down to eat. Sam struck up a conversation with Anna and her husband Ryan while Gabe and John, Dean’s dad got to talking. Cas ate quietly, his hand clasped tight in Dean’s under the table. Dean was content and happy having their families together like this. It was the first time they had everyone over together like this.

Dean had first met Cas a little more than 3 years ago, but they hadn’t jumped right into dating. No, Cas had been seeing another professor at the time, an uppity Brit named Balthazar, so all Dean could do was admire the handsome professor who he kept running in to since his best friend was also a professor. But then the bastard had dumped Cas rather abruptly, leaving the man with a broken heart. It was probably 3 months later when Charlie had suggested he ask Cas out. Dean had been reluctant to though, not wanting to be the rebound, but then Cas had surprised him by doing the asking. 

They had dated casually at first. Dean had wanted to be sure Cas wasn’t still pining over Balthazar but he soon learned that their relationship hadn’t been nearly as serious as Dean had thought. They had dated for 4 years on and off, more off than on, and Cas had known Balthazar didn’t care the same about him, so when he found out the man was cheating, again, he called him out on it. That had caused the fight that led to Balthazar so cruelly breaking up with him. It had been an actual relief to Cas, and while he had needed a little time to recover, he was more than fine by the time he asked Dean out. That made Dean feel a lot better when things started to get serious between them. It was probably 6 months into their relationship when Balthazar tried to make a comeback, but Cas quickly sent him on his way again. 

It hadn’t been all wine and roses but they were good together, and it was a little past their 1 year anniversary when Cas had brought up the topic of them getting a place together. After moving out of his parents’ house after college, Dean had never lived with another person, but he saw his future being with Cas, and if he planned to ask the man to marry him, they had best be able to live together first. So they had gone for it, starting the search for a place they could both agree on. It was roughly 9 months later when Cas found this place. A little more than 2 months later they were closing and the keys were being handed over. They’d now been in their new home for 3 months, and it had been Dean’s idea to bring their families together for their first Christmas in their new home. He had another reason for bringing them all here, and after they had enjoyed dinner and the myriad of desserts Dean had made, they retired to the living room.

Dean positioned himself in front of the tree and immediately had 5 little monkeys scrambling to be the one to sit in his lap. He managed to fit the 2 youngest in his lap, 1 being Anna’s son Dexter and the other being Gabe’s daughter Lita. The other kids piled around him and he employed them to help hand out the presents. This was one of the best Christmas’ he could remember and the kids were all thrilled with their presents. Eventually they all abandoned him in favor of playing with their new toys and books, and that gave Dean the chance to give Cas a very special present. 

His boyfriend was sitting on the couch with Anna, Mary, and Kali and Dean crawled across the floor until he was sitting at his feet.

“Dean, honey, what are you doing?” 

“I have one last present for you.” Dean replied.

“Oh, but sweetheart, you didn’t have to do that. I love the new books and sweaters you got me.” Cas gently placed a hand against his cheek and Dean had to resist the urge to lean into it.

“I’m glad you like those things, but this one is a little more important.”

Before his nerves could get the best of him, Dean pulled the little black box from his pocket and held it up. The hand at his face suddenly disappeared as both were needed to cover Cas’ mouth as he gasped loudly.

“Baby, we’ve been through a lot together, and this sure was an experience learning to live with another person but I love you so much, and I couldn’t picture myself living with anyone else. I’m not altering our plans by doing this, we can fit this in at any point you want, but I don’t want to just live with you, Cas. I want to pledge myself to you, to take you as my husband, and the only person I ever want at my side for the rest of my life. So, Castiel James Novak, will you marry me?”

He was knocked backwards when Cas dove at him, his arms squeezing so tight around Dean’s neck he was momentarily seeing stars, but then there were warm lips against his own, and he could feel the tears that wet Cas’ cheeks as they dripped onto his chin.

“I love you, Dean, more than anything. I would be honored to be your husband.” 

“You could have just said yes.” Dean teased. Cas laughed and wiped at the tears still pouring down his cheeks.

“Yes, Dean, I will marry you.”

The room erupted into cheers as Dean opened the box (he’d forgotten to in his nervousness) and took the ring out.

“Oh, it’s beautiful!” Cas gasped as Dean slid it onto his finger. 

“I am so happy for you guys!” Anna joined them on the floor, hugging them both, and they happily hugged her back.

“Summer wedding?” Sam asked.

“I’ll let Cas decide when we tie the knot.” Dean replied.

“Mmm, I think…the spring after next. That gives us a little more than a year to plan, and time to put more money aside.” Cas sighed contentedly as he leaned back against Dean.

“That sounds good.” Dean agreed. 

“Are you planning on having children?” Mary asked. Dean could see the hope in his mother’s eyes.

“We are, actually, but not until we have our house. We’d like a couple of kids, but we want the space for them.” He replied.

Cas tilted his head back so he could capture Dean’s lips.

“I love you, more than anything in the world. I can’t wait to marry you.” He murmured so only Dean would hear him.

“I love you too, babe.” And Dean meant that. Fancy china, clunky bedroom furniture and black towels with orange flames aside, he loved this man with every fiber of his being. He couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life with him.

**Author's Note:**

> I do hope you liked this. We're almost to the end now. I still have wifi, so I went for it and am getting this one out of the way too and putting it up. Tomorrow (and by tomorrow I mean later today) I will get Day 28 put up. Kudos and comments are always welcome!


End file.
